The Latest: Shooting survivors to press for gun control

Shelby Thevenot

People embrace during a service at the First United Methodist Church in Coral Springs, Fla., on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. The service was dedicated to the victims of Wednesday's mass shooting at nearby Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Nikolas Cruz, a former student was charged with 17 counts of murder. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Image Credit: (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

February 18, 2018 - 9:00 PM

PARKLAND, Fla. - The Latest on the deadly Florida high school shooting (all times local):

4:15 p.m.

Nineteen-year-old senior Chris Grady was hiding at Stoneman Douglas High School during the shooting days go. He says he's angry and will be pressing with other students for great control measures.

He and some fellow students organized a rally Sunday near the Parkland, Florida, high school, set to press for greater gun control measures from lawmakers. The students plan to visit the state capital, Tallahassee, and visit the nation's capital in March.

Grady says pupils targeted by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, in 2012 were "too young to understand." But he adds: "We want to be the voice for those kids and thousands of others who have been affected by tragedies like this."

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3:30 p.m.

A gun show went on as scheduled this weekend, a short drive from the school where a teenager used his own legally purchased AR-15 assault weapon to kill 17 people and wound more than a dozen others. Many assault weapons were on display as customers, some bringing their children, checked out the killing firepower.

Jorge Fernandez spoke for Florida Gun Shows in sharing what he called their "deepest condolences to the persons who have been involved in this terrible tragedy." But he told The Associated Press that his company's shows are scheduled years in advance, and "it would just be cost prohibitive to cancel."

Fernandez says he personally blames the shooting not on guns, but on the mental health of the 19-year-old shooter, Nikolas Cruz. He says he feels there should be a mechanism permitting doctors or law enforcement to identify people with mental health problems and do something about it.

Customer Jerry Sepulveda said he can see how the gun show could be seen as insensitive to the victims, but he came anyway to see the guns. He says he thinks there should be an age limit preventing teens from buying high-powered rifles, and that background checks should be strengthened.

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12:30 p.m.

The principal of the Florida high school where a gunman killed 17 people last week addressed the community in an emotional video message.

The video, which was posted Sunday, showed an emotional Ty Thompson, who is principal at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

He thanked the thousands of people around the world that have reached out to the school in emails and on social media. He said he promises to love the staff, students and their families over the difficult weeks to come.

In the wake of the high school shooting that killed 17 people, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio says Florida should consider enacting a law that would allow family members or law enforcement officials to ask a court to remove guns from a person who poses a danger.

Democratic state legislators filed bills that would create "risk protection orders" but the legislation hasn't been heard during this year's session.

During an interview with Miami television station WFOR, Rubio said legislators should "absolutely" consider the bill. Rubio, who once served as House speaker in the state Legislature, called it an "example of a state law" that could have helped prevent the shooting.

The suspect in the case, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, had been expelled from school and had mental health issues and had been reported to law-enforcement.

Other states have already enacted similar laws.

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11:50 a.m.

In a flurry of tweets Sunday morning, President Donald Trump sounded off on a number of issues but did not mention the deadly shooting rampage at a Florida high school that killed 17 people.

The tweets mainly attacked allegations that Trump's campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

Another tweet claimed Republicans were polling better after a recent tax cut. Trump also said there were no calls for investigation after then-President Barack Obama's cash payment to Iran.

Nineteen-year-old Nikolas Cruz is facing 17 counts of murder in the Wednesday afternoon shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

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11:30 a.m.

The school records of the suspect of a mass shooting in Florida killed 17 people reveal a child that had problems since middle school.

According to records obtained Sunday from the state Department of Children and Families, when Nikolas Cruz was a student at Westglades Middle School, he was constantly in trouble for insulting teachers and staff, using profanity, disruptive behaviour, unexcused absences and at least one fight.

His mother was called in more than a dozen times for conferences and Cruz was frequently sent to counselling.

Nineteen-year-old Cruz is facing 17 counts of murder in the Wednesday afternoon shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

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11:20 a.m.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott was in attendance at a church service Sunday just a few blocks from the high school where a shooting rampage killed 17 people.

Scott shook hands and hugged churchgoers there.

The community has been in mourning since the deadly attack Wednesday afternoon at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Nineteen-year-old Nikolas Cruz is facing 17 counts of murder in the shooting.

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11:05 a.m.

Students who survived the shooting at a Florida High School that killed 17 people are urging President Donald Trump and other leaders to do something to address gun violence.

Speaking on NBC's "Meet The Press," Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, says now is the time to get on right side of the issue. Gonzalez also said politicians who are funded by the National Rifle Association won't be allowed to stay in office when midterms elections come later this year.

David Hogg, a senior at the school, lashed out Trump for a tweet that blamed Democrats for not passing gun control legislation when they controlled both houses of Congress during the Obama administration. Hogg said Trump is now the president and he should do something because children are dying "and their blood is on your hands."

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11:05 a.m.

The school where a shooting killed 17 people will reopen to staff later this week.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday. It will also be closed Tuesday and Wednesday. The Broward County School District said Sunday that the aim is for staff to return to campus by the end of the week.

School officials say there will be no classes Thursday and Friday while teachers and possibly students have time to come together and meet with counsellors if they wish.

The school is in South Florida, about 50 miles northwest of downtown Miami and in Broward County, near the Everglades.

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9:50 a.m.

The 19-year-old suspect in the Florida school shooting that killed 17 people didn't know how to use a microwave, didn't pick up after himself and didn't know how to do his own laundry.

The family that took him in following his mother's death spoke to the Sun Sentinel .

The paper published a story Sunday about the family, who said that what Nikolas Cruz did baffles them.

They made Cruz buy a locking gun safe to put in his room the day he moved in. Cruz had a handful of guns, including the AR-15 and two other rifles that James Snead said would be considered assault rifles. Cruz, a hunter, also had knives, BB guns and pellet guns.

Snead thought he had the only key to the cabinet but has figured out Cruz must have kept a key for himself. The family kept their own rifles, bought after a burglary a couple of years ago, in a separate locked cabinet.

They told Cruz he needed to ask permission to take out the guns. He had asked only twice since November. They said "yes" once and "no" once.

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9:20 a.m.

Survivor of the shooting rampage at a Florida high school that killed 17 people are planning a march on Washington next month to pressure politicians to take action on gun violence.

Speaking Sunday on CNN, a group of students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland said they are determined to make a difference on the issue.

Cameron Kasky, a junior at the school, said the March 24 march will provide a time to talk about gun control, saying "we are losing our lives while the adults are playing around."

Pressure is growing for tougher gun-control laws after a Florida high school shooting that killed 17 people.

Thousands of angry protesters in Fort Lauderdale and St. Petersburg gathered Saturday to demand immediate action by legislators. More demonstrations are planned across the country in the weeks ahead.

Organizers are calling for a 17-minute walkout by teachers and students on March 14. The Network for Public Education announced a day of walkouts, sit-ins and other events on school campuses on April 20. The date is the anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 12 students and one teacher dead.

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